Frequent Disconnects and Slow Internet Speed

Okay, this will probably be long, and it is my first post, but I want to get everything covered.

I moved into a new apartment about a month ago. This apartment is set up with a wireless internet provider by the name of Airwave. I have a PC, so I had to get a wireless adapter. I chose the D-Link DWL-G510 Wireless PCI Adapter (rev. b), because Airwave recommended it because all the routers and such here in the complex are D-Link. I followed all of the install instructions, then put the wireless adapter in my PC. I went through the add new hardware wizard, and I was connected to the internet. And hour or two later though, I got disconnected. But then 30 minutes would pass, and I would reconnect. Now, during this disconnects, the network icon in the task bar would say my signal strength was excellent, and that I was still connected, yet all programs requiring internet (AIM, FireFox/IE, Thunderbird, etc...) would not function, as if there were no internet connection. This problem has persisted still to this day.

In addition, this Airwave was advertising "High Speed Internet" and to the contrary, I felt it would go rather slowly. Some internet speed tests (CNET and PcPitstop) would report usually between 200-300 kpbs. So after many calls to the service provider, I find out it should be running between 1500 and 3000 kbps. For some reason beyond me, I now find out I am running 10 times slower than I should be.

Today, one of the techs in this area called me, and walked me through changing from using the windows wirless utility to using the D-Link wireless utility that comes with my adapter. I made the switch, but alas, still no improvement. He said in the last two weeks, he has twice come to this site, and checked several lap tops on several different access points in the apartment complex, and all reported healthy connections, running at around 2000kbps.

The managment at my apartment does not pay for onsite tech help, so the tech who called me his done all he can do, since he is not authorized to actually come to individual tenants, and help them. And he reckons that the problem must be with my computer, since no other tenants have reported problems, and suggested that I take it to my colleges help, which is an option, but I decided to come here first. Airwave has done all they can do, and by the looks of it, the problem does in fact lie within my computer.

So, Ive tried several virus scans, and spyware/adware scans, and my computer is clean, I have also ran pcpitstop's internet optimizer, but there is no improvement.

So, if the problem does lie within my computer, do any of you have any idea what it would be, and how I could fix it.

Thanks in advance for all your help, this is a sketchy situation, and is way beyond my technical knowledge.

Welcome to TSG!
One thing you can check is your System Resources (RAM available).. since Airwave said the issue wasn't the connection.
If you have a lot of programs running at the same time your system itself would load slow...
it would also help if you post your System Properties, OS, RAM Service packs if there's any...
to calculate your system resources:
Open your "Task Manager" by:
CTRL + ALT + DELETE / Right click on the taskbar and select "Task Manager" / Start > Run > type taskmgr.exe > ok / ctrl + shift + esc.

If you're using 2000/XP OS, the "Performance" TAB,
Check your Physical Memory
Formula Available / Total * 100 = % systeme resources available.
normally, it's good to have 512 and at least 60% available
Check your processess too, how many processess do you have running normally (it's at the bottom of the task manager window)
then we'll go from there...